Stamford, CT, September 19, 2012 -- Woodbine Associates (http://www.woodbineassociates.com), the capital markets consulting and research firm, announces the release of its latest report, “Dark Pools: Characteristics, Operations and Liquidity.”The report examines in depth the value propositions of the top 19 established US non-displayed offerings.

It is intended to help buy- and sell-side firms to get a handle on individual pool offerings including execution and pricing protocols, liquidity characteristics, typical participants, anti-gaming measures and constituent “bucketing.”

“We provide otherwise unavailable actionable information associated with individual dark pool operations and about the state of the dark pool arena,” states Michael Kurzrok, Woodbine Associates Director of Equities and co-author of the study.“We dispel many wild inaccuracies and put into context the distortions propagated by a vocal and agenda-driven minority.”The report has two sections: 1) Overall industry history, characteristics and trends, providing specific criteria that traders and regulators should be aware of, and issues and controversies that have plagued the dark pool space; and 2) In-depth descriptions of 19 individual US dark pool operations, comprising over 95% of the liquidity transacted in the dark pool space. Extensive interviews with the pool operators complement Woodbine’s independent proprietary research.

“Our research is distinctive for its scope, the candor with which we review each solution, and the fact that our analysts are former capital markets traders with real end-user experience,” explains Matt Samelson, Principal at Woodbine Associates and co-author of the report.“We know of no other report that offers such hands-on guidance from the perspective of the seasoned trader.”
Operators whose dark pool operations are covered include: AX Trading LLC, Barclays, BIDS Trading, Citadel Securities, Citibank, ConvergEx Group, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, GETCO Execution Services, Goldman Sachs, Instinet, ITG, Knight Capital Group, LeveL ATS, Liquidnet, Morgan Stanley, State Street Global Markets (BlockCross), UBS Securities, and Wells Fargo. The report is 111 pages long and includes 15 tables and figures.
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